Supporting and driving means for centrifugal machines.



I M.. H.' BARKBR. SUPPORTING AND DRIVING MEANS FOR GENTRIFUGAL MACHINES.

I APPLICATION FILED FEB. 23, 1904. Lwll Patented July 14, 1914;

3 SHEETS-SHEET l.

M. H. BARKER.

SUPPORTING AND DRIVING MEANS FOR GENTRIPUGAL MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED PEB. 23, 1904.

I9 I @@ML Patented July 14, 1914.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

@ww/wy M. H. BARKEB..

SUPPORTING AND DRIVING MEANS FOR GENTRIFUGAL MACHINES.

APPLIUATION FILED 113.23, 1904.

pwl. Patented Ju1y14,1914..

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

ora

MELVILLE H. BAR/KBB', OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS;

SUPPORTING AND DRIVING MEANS FOB CENTRIFUGAL MCHNES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 141-., lllili.

Application filed February 23, 1904. Serial No. 194,653.

To Il w71 om vz'zf may concern:

Be it known that a citizen of the United 'of Boston, county of Suffolk, have invented certain new and useful Improve-ments in Supporting and Driving Means for Centrifugal Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to centrifugal machines and hasl for its object the general improven'ient of this class of machines in respect to their efficiency and durability. llerctofore suspended machines of this type ha veemployed in some case-s a single solid rotary shaft to which the basket is secured, and in other cases a central supporting spindle upon which is carried a hollow rotary basket shaft, the former construction being simpler and cheaper while the other is more cllcient and better adapted to the highest speeds and greatest weight of load.

(lne of the principal problems in connection with centrifugal machines to-day, relates to the suspension and driving of such machines in a manner to avoid objectionable heating yof the bearings and one of the special objects of the present invention is to provide a construction by which the supporting bearings are so arranged as to secure practically perfect lubrication and' to avoid undue stress or strain upon the bearings wherebyv the before mentioned difliculty may bc easily avoided.

To this end my invention colnprises a construction and arrangement by which l am enabled to use a single rotary supporting spindle or shaft while securing all the advantages of the double spindle type of machine, the outside hollow1 shaft being entirely dispensed wit-h.

Other features characterizing my invention will be explained in this specification and will be particularly pointed out in the claims forming part thereof.

In the drawings Figure l is a central verticalsection of the principal parts of a centrifugal machine showing my method of direct connection with an-electric motor. Fig. Q is a side elevation of the same, viewed at right angles to the plane of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the machine. Fig. -l is a detail showing in section the suspension arms which carry the field of the motor.

In the practice of my invention according to the embodiment illustratedin the drawings, I provide a fixed supporting States. and resident ll'lassachusetts,

L' illnLviLLn H. Balmain' or flange is provided-with a vciently to keep it hanger at, which is of approximately U- shape, being open on opposite sides fora purpose to be hereafter explained, and being provided with a spherical bearing socket a. This hanger is rigidly supported by girders or any means for rigidly holding the same at a suit-able distance above the floor, I also provide a hollow oscillatory suspension or sleeve member I) which is formed wit-h a spherical bearing surface or ball b adapted to seat in the socket a to afford free oscillation on every side of the central axis. As herein shown this oscillatory sleeve member is constructed with anv outside wall b2 and an inside wall or flange b3, thus leavingl a hollow annular space which serves as an oil reservoir or well. The bottoni of this reservoir is provided with a suitable bearing face upon which is supported a rotating head c to which is.

keyed k'or otherwise fastened the basket-carrying shaft d. lt will be noticed that the head c is provided with a. cylindrical bearing surface fitting close against the outer face of the {iange orwall b3 thus forming a lateral bearing to prevent any sidewise pla-y or movev ment and also to prevent the drawing up of oil over the top of the flange b3 which would be objectionable because in such case it would run down upon into the basket and spoil the contents thereof. I have shown a series lof bearing balls arranged between the bearin faces of the bearing head member b.

'As shown the shaft d is extended upward above the bearing head and passes .through the hollowl oil easing or cap b* which is detachably secured to the top of the oscillatory sleeve member b` so as to'form a cover for the oil well and'to form an additional lateral bearing for the sh'aft.- its'` this cap b* is secured to the sleeve vmember b it must of course participate in its oscillatory movement. This cap is shown formed with an annular oil well whose'inner wall vertical slot to receive a packing wick d which distributes the oil upon' the shaft at this point suffilubricated. rAny drip caused by leakage of this bearing` packing will fall into the oil channel beneath and is thus prevented from vrunning down the shaftI to the armature Aor basket.

In order to afford a yielding resistance to the oscillatory movement of the shaft and c and the oscillatory sleeve the armature or drip its suspension sleeve, I have provided an elastic gasket or buffer of rubber or other suitable material as shown at c. This is carried by an upwardly projecting` portion of the supporting bracket a and resists the oscillatory movement of the shaft by the resistance which it affords to the outer wall of the vbearing cap b4. Of course any suitable means for affording a yielding resistance may be employed and is preferably located above the plane of the supporting bearing face of the bearing head c. The rotary shaft or spindle Z is continued down and is secured to the basket j in any suitable or well known manner. I have not shown the outer casing which is employed with this class of machines because it being entirely independent of an,d unsupported byv any other parts of the construction, such showing is deemed superfluous.

Where it is desired to drive the machine by a direct connected electric vmotor, as shown in this case, I provide the oscillatory hanger Zi with projecting arms b5 which eX- tend through the open sides of the support ing bracket a and to which is secured the non-rotatable field-magnet X of the electric motor, the rotating armature Y of said motor being secured directly to and supported by the rotary shaft d. By this arrangement the only additional load put upon the rotary shaft is the weight of the armature itself, since the heavy field of the magnet is sustained entirely by the oscillatory hanger. This relieves, to a considerable extent, the strain upon the rotary bearing surfaces upon which the weight of the shaft is sustained. The rotation of the oscillatory sleeve member is prevented by means of elastic buffers a3 carried by suitable brackets or projections lc4 formed on the supporting hanger a and arranged to engage the opposite sides of the supporting arms or extensions b5, these buffers al* being preferably formed of blocks of vulcanized rubber. The supporting arms 25 are provided with supporting heads 57 to which are detachably secured the two halves of -the field-magnet by means of bolts 6,8. Byy this construction and arrangement the removal of the bolts 68 permits the talc ing ofi' of the field of the motor to give free access to the armature without disassembling other parts of the machine.

In order to stop the rotation of the machine when the power is turned off, I have Aprovided a novel form of brake mechanism which comprises aconcave member g and a convex member g provided with opposing cooperating friction surfaces, one of these members, g forexample, being keyed directly to the shaft el, while the other member is supported to slide vertically in order to y be brought into gripping engagement with its coperating rotatable member. In this case the convex brake member g is mounted upon supporting pins or rods g2 which slide in vertical bearings formed ni the frame ot the supporting hanger and which are raised and lowered by any suitable mechanism,

-cillation of the shaft so that their relationship may not be disturbed by such oscillatory movements.

It will be seen that with the construction of apparatus above described I am able to use a direct connected motor for driving the machine ywhile adding the minimum amount of load to be carried by the bearings and at the same timesecure the perfect distribution of weight over a large bearing-surface supported by ball bearings which run continuously in the oil so that the possibility of heating the bearings even under the heaviest loads is reduced to a minimum. I therefore secure all'the advantages possible with the solid spindle rot-ary sleeve suspension while employing the single rotary shaft construction. At the same time all possibility of the dripping of oil upon the armatui'e or into the basket is completely avoidedwhile I secure a highly efficient and wellnigh frictionless rotary bearing for the basket shaft. Vhat I claim isl. A mount for centrifugal machines em,- bracing in lcombination a solid rotary basketcarrying shaft, van oscillatory sleeve member forming a means for suspending said shaft and having a thrust bearing and a lateral bearing for operatively sustaining said shaft inits rotation, a driving motor operatively connected to said shaft below its center of oscillation the stator element of said'motor being rigidly secured to and supported by the oscillatory sleeve, substantially as described.

2. A mount for centrifugal machines embracing in combination a supporting hanger, a sleeve member having an oscillatory bearing in said hanger, a rotatable basket-carry` ing shaft extending through said sleeve member and having rotary bearing support on said sleeve member, a downwardly projecting yoke for rigidly securing a motor element to said sleeve member, and means 'for preventing the rotation of the sleeve member, substantially as described.

3. A mount for centrifugal machines embracing in combination a fixed socketed hanger, an oscillatory sleeve member seated therein, an elastic buffer interposed between said sleeve member and the hanger for yieldingly centralizing'said sleeve member, a rotary basketscarrying shaft suspended through the sleeve lnember upon a thrust bearing located on said sleeve member, a driving motor located belowv the center of oscillation the elements lof which are rigidly connected to the basket shaft and to the sleeve member respectively, substantially as described.

4c. The combination of the ysuspended oscillatory rotary solid basket shaft, the basket secured to the lower end thereof, an oscillatory non-rotating through which said basket shaft passes, said sleeve member being formed with both lateral and thrust bearing surfaces for the suspension of the rotary shaft and for maintaining axial alinement between the shaft and the sleeve member, a motor whose rotor is secured to the basket shaft below the sleeve and whose stator is rigidly suspended from the sleeve itself, substantially as described.

5. A mount for a centrifugal machine embracing in combination a ixed hanger, an oscillatory sleeve member seated therein, a rotary basket shaftsuspended from a thrust bearing on the sleeve member said member being upwardly extended to form an oil reservoir inclosing the thrust bearing to keep said bearing immersed in oil, an encircling buffer interposed between the upward extension of the slee-ve member and the surrounding portion of the hanger and a motor whose rotor element is connected with the shaft to drive the same, substantially as described.

6. A mount for centrifugal machines embracing in combination a socketed hanger, an oscillatory sleeve member provided with an external ball adapted to be seated in said socket, said sleeve member being also formed sleeve member with an interior oil reservoir, an anti-friction thrust bearing mounted in said oil reservoir, a rotary basket shaft suspended through the sleeve member and rotatably supported upon said thrust bearing, a centralizing buer encircling the sleeve member and a driving motor Whose rotor element is connected with said shaft to rotate the same and whose stator element is rigidly suspended from said sleeve member, substantially as described. v

7. A mount for centrifugal machines embracing in combination a fixed hanger, an oscillatory sleeve member seated therein, a solid rotary basket shaft suspended upon said sleeve member by a thrust bearing located on the sleeve member, a driving motor whose elements are rigidly secured respec-y tively to the sleeve member and to the shaft in a plane below the sleeve member` and a a brake mechanism operatively connected with the upper end of the sha-ft above the sleeve member, substantially as described.

8. The combination of the solid oscillatory rotary basket shaft, an oscillatory sleeve member from which said shaft is suspended, a direct connected driving motor located below' the sleeve member, and an anti-friction brake located above the sleeve member and a centralizing buer surrounding and engaging the sleeve member at a level between the center of oscillation and the brake, substantially as described.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, this eighth day of February, 1904.

MELVILLE H. BAKKER.

KATHARINE A. DUGAN. 

